Moving On
by xxCarrie-Annxx
Summary: After Troy's death, his girlfriend, Gabriella and his best friend, Chad need to learn to move on with their lives. Chadella, background hints of Troyella. Oneshot


AN: No, folks, that wasn't a typo in the summary. This is a Chadella, but no fear, this will be my first and my last, and after reading this, you'll all be happy about that because this story is terrible. Anyway, this is dedicated to my friend, corbinbleuis4eversexc. Happy birthday, Mel!

Disclaimer: HSM nor the characters are mine.

* * *

"_Chad…." Troy's started, gasping for breath._

"_Don't worry! You'll be fine!" Chad assured him, although he wasn't so sure himself, but he had to stay calm for his friend's sake._

"_Just listen," he said hoarsely, tears filling his eyes. "If I don't make it, tell Gabi that I love her."_

_Chad nodded, tears filling his own eyes as his friend lie helplessly on the stretcher in the ambulance. "I will, but you're not going to die, Troy!"_

"_It's hopeless," Troy said, his voice cracking. "I'm going. But, please promise you'll take good care of her."_

_Hesitantly, Chad nodded. Deep down, he knew his friend was right, but he couldn't believe it. His best friend since preschool was on his death bed at the hands of a drunk driver._

Chad Danforth woke with a start as his alarm clock sounded through his room. Groaning, Chad walked over to his closet and grabbed the first shirt and pair of pants he saw. After getting ready for school, he walked downstairs, finding his mother in the kitchen and his thirteen-year-old sister eating breakfast.

"Good morning, Chad," his sister, Amelia, greeted him.

"Morning, sis," he greeted back, forcing a small smile. "Morning, mom."

"Good morning, honey. I made pancakes," Mrs. Danforth said, offering him a plate, but Chad shook his head.

"Nah, thanks anyway, mom. I'm not really hungry," Chad said, walking towards the door. "I'm going to leave early, so, Amelia, if you want a ride, you better hurry."

"That's okay, I'm taking the bus, as always," Amelia said.

"Whatever," Chad said, stepping outside the door. "Bye, mom, bye, Am."

* * *

As Chad drove to school, memories started filling his mind, casing him to not pay much attention to where he was going. Ever since the car accident, he had been more hesitant about getting behind the wheel of a car. However, in the wreck, he wasn't the one driving. 

_Flashback_

"_So, dude, the girls said the pizzeria, right?" Troy Bolton asked his best friend._

"_Yeah," Chad answered, getting in the passenger's side of Troy's truck as Troy got in the driver's side._

_A few minutes after they left, Chad was staring blankly out the window, unaware of what was about to happen. However, his attention changed to his best friend when he spoke. "Today's the day."_

"_The day for what?"_

_Troy sighed. "Today is the day I tell Gabriella."_

_Chad looked at him, wide-eyed. "Dude, you're going to tell her you love her?"_

"_Yep," Troy confirmed. "Chad, I've never met anyone like her. I really think she's the one."_

"_Yeah, you say that now, but are you positive you really want to spend the rest of your life with her?" Chad questioned._

_Troy nodded. "I've never been so in love with anyone else."_

_Just then, a large, black truck swerved to the other side and collided with Troy's truck. _

_

* * *

_

Sighing, Chad began to recall the rest of the events in his mind. Troy's body was crushed by the front-end caving in, but Chad managed to escape the vehicle with minor cuts and bruises. The ambulance came eventually, but after freeing Troy, he couldn't hold on any longer and had passed away in the ambulance.

Chad had never felt so much hurt and anger than he had that day. All he could think about was revenge on the person who did that to his best friend. They caught and arrested the man, but that wasn't good enough for Chad.

If there was anyone who took the news as badly as Chad, it had been Troy's girlfriend, Gabriella Montez. She had cried for weeks, and to that day, people could tell she was ready to break-down at any moment, even though two months had passed.

As much as he tried to, Chad couldn't understand it. How could Troy fall head-over-heels in love with a girl he met less than a year ago? How could Gabriella seemingly know as much, if not more, than he did about Troy even though he knew him longer? None of it made sense to Chad. Back when he was with Taylor, he didn't have that type of relationship with her that Troy and Gabriella had and the relationship crumbled a month after the accident. Taylor had grown tired of seeing Chad doing nothing but moping around and Chad knew it so he ended the relationship for her sake. It was a mutual decision and they were still friends, but both of them knew that that would be all they meant to each other.

Once Chad arrived at East High, he solemnly walked through the halls of East High, ignoring the stares of his peers. As he made his way to his locker, he found himself staring at a petite brunette gathering her books. The girl seemed too caught up in her own thoughts to notice him, but Chad was accustomed to it. Every time someone so much as tried to talk to her, she pretended like she couldn't hear them or made some excuse to avoid much conversation. She had been this way since her boyfriend passed away.

When the girl turned around, Chad quickly looked down but didn't move.

"Chad, is something wrong?" the girl asked, closing her locker.

"No, I was just, uh, stopping by to check on you. You've seemed a bit…out of it lately," Chad finished.

"I'm fine," she replied simply, walking past him and into homeroom.

"Sure you are," Chad responded sarcastically but the girl didn't hear him. _'Typical Gabriella,'_ he thought, leaving to gather his books from his locker.

* * *

Sitting in her fourth period AP calculus class, Gabriella Montez sat, absent-mindedly twirling strands of hair around her finger as she listened to her teacher drone on in another lesson. Paying attention in class had never been as much of a struggle as it had been the last few months. In fact, she was one of few who did pay attention. However, her senior year was turning out differently than previous years. 

Gabriella sighed when she glanced up at the clock, the second-hand seemingly unmoving since the last time she checked. The days seemed to drag on, where as before, they were going by too fast for her liking. Ever since her boyfriend passed away, her life had been in a rut. Ever since his death, Gabriella's life hadn't been the same since.

Tears began to prick at the corners of her eyes as the memories of that fateful day filled her mind. All she remembered was Chad's urgent phone call telling her to meet him at the hospital because there had been an accident. She and her best friend, Taylor McKessie had rushed to the hospital, but, when they got there, they heard the tragic news. Troy Bolton was dead.

Holding back tears, Gabriella remembered the words she ad longed to tell him but for some reason, never could. She wanted to tell him she loved him while he was a live, but she just never could find a way to tell him and now it was too late. Troy was gone and she knew she would have to move on with her life sooner or later.

When class had finally ended, Gabriella quickly escaped the room and weaved in and out of the crowd of students rushing to lunch. After reaching her destination, she walked up the familiar stairwell to her safe haven-the rooftop garden. Ever since Troy's death, she found herself going there quite often to get away from the world, even for just a few minutes.

Just as Gabriella sat down on the bench, she heard the door open followed by the sound of footsteps drawing near. Looking up, Gabriella's gaze immediately fell upon the tall, dark-complexioned boy in front of her.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked politely. Gabriella shook her head and he sat down next to her.

There was an awkward silence between the two until finally Gabriella spoke, "So, Chad, how've you been?"

"Same as always," he answered. "You?"

I've been better," she replied.

Chad looked at her and could tell she was telling the truth. It had been a while since they had actually talked one-on-one, and that moment, he could tell she wasn't the same. The happy, caring person she was had been replaced with someone who was always solemn and depressed.

"Yeah, I've seen my better days, too," Chad agreed.

"Um, not to be rude or anything, but why are you suddenly talking to me? Ever since…well, you know, you've barely spoken at all to me," she stated.

"Hey, you're the antisocial one," Chad stated a bit coldly, catching her off guard.

"My boyfriend died, Chad! At least you got to say goodbye!" she pointed out, holing back tears.

Chad looked down for a moment; he never thought of it like that. He was there with Troy in his final moments, not Gabriella. Even though Troy constantly talked about Gabriella, Chad was the one who got to say goodbye, not Gabriella. In a way, he felt it didn't seem fair.

"I know, but you want to know what he told me before the crash?" Chad asked her, his voice softening.

"What?"

"He said that he was going to tell you he loves you that day," Chad said.

"I-I love him, too, but I never got to tell him," Gabriella said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Hey, Troy's gone now and he's not coming back," Chad firmly stated, finally realizing the cold, hard truth himself. "You, on the other hand, are still here. Maybe it's time you start moving on and getting your life back together. It's something we both need to do."

"I don't think I can do it alone," Gabriella replied.

"You won't have to. That's why I'm here," Chad assured her. "I promised Troy I would take care of you and there's no way I'm going back on that."

"Thanks, Chad," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck in a friendly embrace. Smiling a real smile for the first time in months, Chad returned the embrace and pulled her closer. Neither of them understood why, but being in the other's arms felt like heaven to both of them, something Gabriella had only experienced with Troy and something Chad had never experienced.

"I'm here for you, too, Chad," Gabriella said. "It must've been pretty hard, losing your best friend."

"Yeah, but I'm tired of moping around," Chad told her. "And, if I know Troy, he would've hit me for doing it."

Gabriella laughed slightly but not forced like usual. "I want to move on but it still hurts."

"It probably will for a while," Chad said, unconsciously tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "But, you can't cry about it forever, nor can I."

Gabriella nodded. "There'll never be another Troy Bolton, though. Not to me at least."

"Hey, you're a good girl, I'm sure you'll find someone else," Chad assured her. "And, I didn't say forget Troy or try to replace him. Trust me, that's impossible."

"Yeah, but I don't know if I want someone else," Gabriella said uncertainly.

"Troy would want you to move on and find someone else," Chad said.

"How do you know?" Gabriella questioned.

"Gabs, I knew Troy better than he knew himself," Chad pointed out. "He just wants you to be happy."

"I guess so," Gabriella said, looking down at the ground. "Thanks for your help, Chad."

"Hey, no prob," Chad said.

"I can't believe Taylor never told me how deep you could be," Gabriella said, smiling genuinely for the first time in months.

"She didn't know either. Heck, neither did I," Chad replied.

"It's sad you two broke up," Gabriella told him.

Chad shrugged. "It wouldn't have worked out anyway."

"Oh," she replied, unable to say more. Gabriella didn't understand why, but she was glad the relationship didn't work, but unknown to her, Chad felt the same way.

A comfortable silence fell upon the two as they sat there, silently enjoying the other's company. They both lost someone important to them: for one, it was a best friend, a brother-figure. To the other: a boyfriend and a friend was lost. However, that common bond wasn't the only reason they felt comfortable around each other.

When the bell rang throughout the school, Chad and Gabriella both groaned and stood up, both wishing for more time alone together.

"I'll see you later, Gabi, okay?" Chad told her, beginning to walk away until Gabriella grabbed his wrist. Chad turned back around to face her, but what happened next caught him completely off guard. Gabriella pressed her lips to his in what started as a soft, gentle kiss. Before she could pull back, Chad wrapped his arms around her waist and returned the kiss.

When they finally pulled away from each other, Gabriella could hardly believe what had just happened. She had just kissed Troy's best friend.

"Gabi, something wrong?" Chad asked her, concerned when she didn't speak.

"Chad, I just kissed you! That's what's wrong!" Gabriella said frantically.

"Yeah, but what's the problem?" Chad asked her, not understanding why she was making a big deal out of it.

"If Troy were here, what would he think?" Gabriella questioned.

"He is here, Gabriella," Chad said. "In spirit. And, I bet he's happy for us. In fact, I know he is."

"I hope you're right," Gabriella said, beginning to calm down.

"Gabi, I know I am," Chad said, leaning forward and kissing her again.

"I always believed Troy was my soul mate," Gabriella suddenly said, smiling as she continued, "But, everyone always told me that you have more than one."


End file.
